STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2164

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2001

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2001 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO POLICE REPORTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow surviving immediate family members of deceased persons to receive a copy of the closing report prepared by the investigating police department after a specified period of time.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Libertarian Party of Hawaii. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Public Safety. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committee finds that the death of a family member where the incident led to law enforcement initiating an investigation can raise many questions for the surviving family members even years later. Law enforcement's investigation and the ensuing report may provide some answers and perhaps closure for the family. However, obtaining this information can be difficult. For one family whose son was murdered, it took seventeen years and repeated assistance from a state legislator's office to receive the closing report. For another family whose son was killed during an incident involving law enforcement, the family still had not received a copy of the report more than five years after the incident despite a state legislator's involvement. This measure will assist the State in providing answers and closure for families by allowing surviving immediate family members of deceased persons to receive a copy of the closing report prepared by the investigating police department after a specified period of time.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring that information included in the closing reports not required to be disclosed pursuant to the Uniform Information Practices Act, section 92F-13, Hawaii Revised Statutes be redacted or withheld; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2001, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2001, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs,

________________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair